


Zefonbomrek's Escape

by his_valentine



Category: Dwarf Fortress
Genre: Combat, Dismemberment, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-08 20:59:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14702193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/his_valentine/pseuds/his_valentine
Summary: Old writing. Based off a Dwarf Fortress combat log.





	Zefonbomrek's Escape

'Bastards, they don't give up!'

Screeching terribly, Zefonbomrek raised her less-injured leg, striking out at whatever part of the stunted warrior was closest.

The area happened to be the dwarf's eye. Howling in pain, he dropped to his knees, giving Zefon time to flutter up and away, darting through a few trees as she searched for a spot to rest. Looking back, she noted to herself with a note of victory that he had passed out from the pain, blood dripping into a puddle from his torn eyesocket.

She and her Sisters had only been looking for meat, when they spotted the lone horse and mule, the packanimals of the group in question, out to graze. They'd made the mistake of thinking it would be an easy meal. Now, she was the only one left breathing, and was in a fight for her life.

She had thought nothing of the short little creatures when they showed up to chase the three off, seeing that they were even smaller than their close cousins, the humans. If anything, they might prove to be edible!

Then the guard, armed with an axe, the shortest one of the dwarven caravan, had promptly sliced one of her Sisters' wings off, before making short work of the grounded harpy with a blow to the neck.

The next one, closest to her, had tackled her other Sister, and before either of them knew what was going on, they were both surrounded. The other dwarves were unarmed, but suicidally determined. Zefon had fought her way out through a split-second opening after killing one of the dwarves, but her Sister hadn't been so lucky...

Despite her escape, she was not out of danger yet. One dwarf had focused on her wing, leaving it bruised and beaten, and she flew awkwardly at best, trying to favor her left side. The right leg was crumpled uselessly beneath her, dislocated. And a sudden stabbing headache pointed to possible head trauma.

On top of all that, they were chasing after her as she retreated.

'Probably to avenge their stunted breathern' she pondered, letting out a high-pitched cackle at the idea. Silly 'civilized' idiots, throwing themselves to possible death over the life of one silly creature who was too slow to avoid her claws!

Ducking and diving through trees, she gained ground as she began to figure out the mechanics of flying handicapped. However, the jarring was upsetting her dangling leg terribly, and spotting a tall tree she soared towards it, pulling upward to perch on the tallest branch that would support her weight.

She cackled derisively at the dwarves who gathered around the tree, glaring at her with hatred burning in their eyes. She noted that One-Eye hadn't followed along. And according to her original count, minus the dead dwarf and One-Eye himself of course, that meant they had left him alone in the wilderness, broken and bleeding.

"Chivarly indeed, leaving one to die so that you can avenge another!" she screamed, ruffling her feathers. However, the Dwarves simply roared back various curses in their own language; she couldn't understand them, and they likely couldn't understand her.

However, one of the dwarves, a leaner fellow as far as their race went, was now trying to hoist himslf up onto the first branches of the tree. Seeing that it was time to leave, Zefon took her injured leg in her beak.

And twisted.

She barely fought back the urge to bite down in reply to her own self-inflicted pain as she forced the leg back into its socket. She had learned this little trick from watching a human party for some hours after a mostly-successful raid.

However, just as quickly as the pain had come, it went, leaving Zefon feeling all the better for it. Screeching in delight at the stunned faces of the dwarves (who had not been expecting a harpy, considered by most to hardly be intelligent in any form, apply first-aid to herself,) she lifted into the air, the force of her takeoff shaking the tree enough for the climbing dwarf to drop down from his perch.

She idly wondered if she should have perhaps stayed a bit longer, as his fall hadn't been far down enough to do much more than scrape his back.

Scrambling, the dwarves ran over each other to continue the pursuit.

Zefon led them through the sparsely-forested marsh, ducking and weaving. However, she had overestimated her health after re-setting her leg, and was caught by surprise as she didn't carreen to the left just as far as she had liked to, and her wing crumpled until her form to avoid a collison with the tree. Losing her mid-air balance, she toppled to the ground, rolling over herself several times before screeching (both figurtively and literally) to a halt.

Immediately the dwarves increased their pace, flooding around her. She stood up, flailing in her haste, and one of the wings caught a dwarf - female, or so she presumed from its scream - in the stomach, flinging her several feet away.

Several feet away happened to be the drop-off of a small, but deep pond. The dwarf, too startled to remember how to swim ('If she even knows how to at all' thought Zefon, remembering when one of her Mothers had told her that 'the short, hairy ones' were natrually adverse to water, and had to be trained to not immediately panic,) sank like a rock, sputtering for breath.

Figuring that she was now accounted for, Zefon turned her attention to her other two attackers, just in time for one to kick her right in the leg that she had just set. It immediately dislocated again. Falling, she schreeched in horror as the same dwarf then stomped on her talon, and it curled in tightly against her will. She quickly found that it wouldn't uncurl.

Again in a panic, she sweeped her other leg out, just thoughtful enough to aim for the same spot that had wounded the last close-up adversary so terribly, the face. Luckily, her instincts worked to her advantage as she caught this man's eye as well. Angling her talon downward for a hold, she pulled him closer and threw herself forward, beak clamping firmly on his bicep.

A satisfying crunch, following by an even more delightful scream, sounded in her ears. Pulling her talon from his face, she kicked out with it again afterwards, the ball of it slamming just under his kneecap. She then tightened her hold on the man's arm and pulled. Blood streaking the side of her face, she now proudly held the man's arm in her hand, and he stumbled back, staring at the stump in horror.

She turned to strike out at the last dwarf, when a shining glimmer caught her eye, focusing past the last frightened merchant, who simply stood there in fear now, she spied the same axedwarf who had made such short work of her first Sister advancing rapidly. The dwarf's arm would have to do, as she had seen firsthand what this particular creature was capable of. Forcing herself off the ground with her one safe talon, she took to the air, finding that her wing was already growing numb. Not a good sign for her long-term health, but it would help her focus on getting away.

Rather than ducking through trees as she had done with the unencumbered, armorless dwarves, she simply sped straight forward. Though the dwarf could very well see exactly where she was, her speed and his heavy armor made it all but impossible to keep up. He slowed as he neared the stuttering, shaking man, finally slowing to a stop next to him. They watched the harpy as she made her escape. The man breathed a sigh of relief, but the guard's worn features hardened even more than usual.

"Damned bitch. If even one gets away, we'll never be rid of them," he growled darkly.


End file.
